1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to medical instruments and the use thereof. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to medical staplers and pressure distribution during a clamping and/or stapling procedure.
2. Background of Related Art
Generally, surgical fastener applying instruments grasp or clamp tissue between opposing jaw structures and join the tissue by means of surgical fasteners. In some such instruments, a knife is provided to cut the tissue which has been joined by the fasteners. The fasteners are typically in the form of surgical staples, although other surgical fasteners may also be utilized, such as, for example, clips or two part polymeric surgical fasteners.
Certain surgical fastener applying instruments include two elongated jaw members which are used to capture or clamp tissue therebetween. Typically, one of the jaw members carries a cartridge assembly which houses a plurality of staples arranged in at least two lateral rows, while the other jaw member includes an anvil which defines a surface for forming the staple legs as the staples are driven from the cartridge assembly. Where two part fasteners are used, the jaw member which includes the anvil carries a mating part of the two part fastener, e.g. the receiver. Generally, the staple formation process is effected by the interaction between one or more longitudinally moving camming members and a series of individual staple pushers. As the camming members travel longitudinally through the cartridge carrying jaw member, the individual staple pushers are urged upwardly into a backspan of the staples supported within the cartridge assembly to sequentially eject the staples from the cartridge assembly. A knife may be provided to travel with the camming members between the staple rows to cut the tissue between the rows of formed staples.
Pinching may occur at the site of clamped tissue along the periphery of the jaw members due to a very localized high pressure gradient between the clamped tissue and the tissue lying outside the jaws. This pinching may affect the quality of the procedure. Solutions to these issues are described hereinbelow.